People Search Digest

WikiYou, launched out of beta July 24, 2007, describes themselves as “the unauthorized biography of every person on earth.” Read: WikiYou is a wikipedia for people with a social network fastened on the back. The focus is biographies and stories about individuals. Much of the content is wiki-like allowing anyone to edit it. However, unlike Wikipedia entries the edits do not have to be backed up by “reliable” or “verifiable” sources.

Upon joining WikiYou, you can create a profile if you’re the first person to write about you. If someone else has already created an unauthorized biography for you, you can claim it. The next step is to add pictures, other biographical data, and friends. The main area of any profile is reserved for stories about the person, which can be (as with the other sections) revised by both the owner of the profile and other individuals. Content written by power users, who have proven themselves full of truth (instead of anything else) goes on top and is circled in yellow.

Owned and operated by Bolt.com founders Jay Gould (whom you can friend if you like) and Aaron Cohen, WikiYou raised a seed round of approximately $500,000 from Mayfield, First Round Capital and Reid Hoffman in December 2006. Bolt.com also owns a percentage of the company in return for services.

The site offers an interesting social networking and people search experience, but lends itself to problems such as liable. In a world where potential schools and employers check things like Myspace and Fackbook pages before making decisions, keeping your digital friends close, and enemies closer could suddenly become more important than ever.